The New Unmarried Moms

By the time they turn 30, about two-thirds of American women have had their first child, usually outside of marriage.

Indeed, 20-somethings are driving America's all-time high level of nonmarital childbearing, which is now at 41% of all births, according to vital-statistics data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Sixty percent of those births are to women in their 20s, while teens account for only one-fifth of nonmarital births. Between 1990 and 2008, the teen pregnancy rate has dropped by 42%, while the rate of nonmarital childbearing among 20-something women has risen by 27%.

...

Among college grads today, only 12% of first births are outside marriage. For high-school dropouts, who tend to be the poorest population, 83% of first births are outside marriage, the CDC data show.

...

But this model of marriage has left many less-educated, less well-off Americans without a viable life script. With manufacturing jobs and median male wages on the decline, less-skilled men are finding it ever harder to become financially "set." Under these circumstances, it is no surprise that growing numbers of Middle Americans are postponing marriage or forgoing it altogether.

Meanwhile, many whose jobs do not give them membership in the professional class turn to a traditional source of young adult identity—parenthood—for meaning and satisfaction. Although nearly all unmarried young adults say it's important to them to avoid pregnancy at the present moment, a third also say they would be at least a little happy if they did find themselves pregnant. And so young women often drift "unintentionally" into parenthood with men whom they believe are not good enough to marry or not ready for it.

I think you mischaracterize the op-ed. The strategy is already happening. He is evaluating it. And it sounds like maybe it's making a dent in the pregnancy rates.

Shame is a difficult word to get around, but you know what, there is a whole lot to be said for making sure kids know this is a really big damn deal. And it's all too common that they are told otherwise, you can still go to college and have friends and have your life and let Grandma take care of the baby, etc.

If they are concluding that the campaign is factual but mean, well, tough shit.